


Truth

by carmensandiego



Category: Sleepy Hollow (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-25
Updated: 2016-02-25
Packaged: 2018-05-23 05:09:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6105916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carmensandiego/pseuds/carmensandiego
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post 3x10 short story of Crane confronting Abbie about what truly happened to her in the Catacombs.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Truth

He heard her deafening cries as soon as he entered the house, stopping dead in his tracks as he quietly placed the bag of fresh groceries on the kitchen counter.

Crane was not supposed to have been home. His day had been occupied with plans of traveling to the West Chester library to locate a particularly hard-to-find novel that he so desperately desired.

It was only when he was informed of the library’s early closing that day that he had decided to abort his plans and spend the afternoon perusing the local farmer’s market and selecting groceries to prepare a home-cooked meal for the Leftenant, who still had not re-gained her appetite to its pre-Catacombs state.

So, unbeknownst to the Leftenant, he was not supposed to be home at this early mid-afternoon hour.

Yet here he was. Standing in the kitchen with a heavy heart as he listened to his fellow Witness, his friend, baring her soul in tears to what she thought was an empty house.

Crane thought about turning around and leaving. But that would not be in his nature.

Even though all previous discussions had summoned a response of “I’m fine, Crane”, he knew his partner was hurting.

She had not slept a full night since her return a fortnight ago. And even more, had seemed a shell of her former self and the person he had come to know over the past 3 years.

Something within her had changed. Drastically. And she was not yet ready to divulge to him, or anyone else what she had gone through.

Yet her cries, even though not meant for his ears, screamed out for help. And he found himself walking slowly over to her bedroom door and peering in as she laid sobbing on her bed in fetal position. Her face buried into one of her satin pillows.

“Leftenant…” he said softly, watching her body jolt at the realization she was not alone in their home. The sobs stopped. And Crane watched as she stood still as a board, willing him to leave her presence and never speak of what he had just witnessed again.

But he couldn’t.

He walked over to her bed. “Abbie… please talk to me.”, he said as the seconds passed in complete silence.

The sounds that escaped her mouth next were not expected. And Crane stood puzzled as she broke out into a fit of laughter, pulling herself up and looking over at him with red, puffy eyes.

“What do you want me to say, Crane?” She said, almost confrontationally as she stood up. “Huh? What is it that you would like so desperately to hear come out of my mouth?

He was aghast. And had not been expecting this reaction to his question. Nonetheless, he spoke.

“I just want to know the truth, Leftenant. The truth about what horrors you went through when you were away.”

She chuckled, looking away out of her window at the sun setting in the distance.

“The truth?” She said in almost a whisper.

She looked back over at him.

“I spent 10 months alone, Crane! In a fucking desolate Game of Thrones type castle where the only way I kept myself sane was to draw maps to figure a way out and talk to a figment of my imagination that manifested itself as you.”

She took a break in her fit of rage and watched his reaction.

“I couldn’t sleep. I didn’t eat. Every waking moment was spent wondering if I was ever going to get myself out of there and return to my former life. If I was ever going to see my sister again, or Joe. Or you…

“And I had almost given up, when you arrived to me. I had almost relinquished to the fact that the hell that I was in was permanent. And somewhere deep inside of me, I began to welcome it. Felt like I must have done something to deserve it and all the other crap that had finessed its way into my life.”

Crane’s eyes fell low. “Oh, Abbie.”

“So you want to know if I’m okay, Crane. No. I am not fucking, okay. Ok?”

She walked past him, brushing by his shoulder on her way out of the room.

He wanted to reach out to her. Wanted to grab her by the shoulders, pull her close and whisper in her ear that he was here now and she was safe.

But he knew he couldn’t. The demons she was facing could not be solved by a long hug and whispers of resolve.

No.

Abbie Mills would have to forgive herself before she could ever face what had happened to her in those ten months of solitude.

And that, he thought sadly, was a much tougher battle than what he originally imagined.


End file.
